Maliksi inks MOA on sanitary landfill

Trece MartireS CITY – After more than a year of extensive research and public consultations, Cavite Gov. Ayong Maliksi has finally signed a memorandum of agreement on the solid waste processing facility with sanitary landfill project with Environsave Inc., the project proponent.

Alda Cabrera, provincial public information officer, said the signing of the MOA by Maliksi and engineer Lambert Lee, Environsave president, took place last Jan. 24 at the China Palace Restaurant at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

Engineers Rolinio Pozas, head of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO), and Ray Guillermo, Environsave manager, witnessed the signing. 

Also present during the event were provincial department heads and members of non-government organizations. 

Cavite produces an average of 1,500 tons of garbage daily. As the recommended solution, the solid waste processing facility with sanitary landfill will be developed in a 2.1-hectare site in Ternate town. 

Cabrera said the sanitary landfill could accommodate 800 metric tons of non-toxic and non-hazardous residual waste every day. Two transfer stations will be put up in Gen. Trias and Carmona towns for the pre-sorting and pre-segregation of waste materials.

In a statement, Maliksi said Environsave will be responsible for securing all the necessary compliance requirements prior to the construction and operation of the sanitary landfill and “shall strictly comply with environmental laws.”

The provincial government, on the other hand, will manage, through the towns and cities, the hauling and transport of solid waste, payment of tipping fees and maintenance of all roads and infrastructure leading to the sanitary landfill. 

Last October, the environmental group Kalikasan Foundation and the Ternatenios Against Landfill (TALA) staged a rally here to protest the sanitary landfill project.

Carmela Boren, director of Kalikasan Foundation, said the sanitary landfill would contaminate the underground water of Ternate and the neighboring towns of Naic, Maragondon and Tanza.

Boren claimed that the project proponent was able to secure an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) allegedly without undergoing a public hearing and an education and information campaign. 

Boren insisted that Ternate, together with Maragondon and Nasugbu in Batangas, was declared an ecotourism area by virtue of Presidential Decree 564. 

Maliksi, however, said the sanitary landfill project was declared ecologically safe after the DENR issued the ECC to Environsave after the company complied with all the requirements and the project underwent thorough study in terms of location and technology in compliance with Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. 

Maliksi said the PENRO and the regional tourism office certified that the landfill site is not within the boundaries of the declared national park. 

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau, for its part, found the site suitable for the sanitary landfill, in a report dated Feb. 14, 2006 signed by DENR regional director Anselmo Abungan, Maliksi added.

According to Maliksi, the ECC issued to Environsave last Sept. 26 under Presidential Decree 1586, mandates that the sanitary landfill “shall have a maximum disposal capacity not exceeding 800 metric tons of non-toxic and non-hazardous residual wastes per day.” 

With all open and controlled dumps prohibited from operating under RA 9003, Maliksi batted for the solid waste management system that would include a sanitary landfill with materials recovery facilities for the segregation, recycling and reuse of waste from domestic sources.